New Colortopia Exhibit at Epcot Provides Learning for All Ages

Innoventions is located in the heart of Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, The pseudo children’s museum focuses on technological advancements and their practical applications in everyday life. Combining the words “innovation” and “invention” it’s like a fun, hands-on science fair for kids. Best of all, the exhibits inside the air-conditioned hall is perfect for all kids, even younger kiddos, especially now with their latest exhibit opening COLORTOPIA™ presented by GLIDDEN® paint. This new interactive area creates colorful experiences for guests of all ages.

Entrance to the new Colortopia exhibit at Epcot. Photo credit: Tara Settembre/VIP TravelingMom

Colortopia, presented by the equally colorful Glidden Paint, is a new exhibit that just opened (Nov. 13, 2015) at Innoventions East in Epcot. The new exhibit entertains, informs and inspires guests of all ages at Walt Disney World about the power of color and the affect it has on your life, including the psychology of color and the perception of color through hands-on activities. During an exclusive grand opening, I got to check out the more than 3,700 square foot space before it opened to the public. Here’s what I discovered:

About Colortopia at Epcot:

The Colortopia area is comprised of three different zones where guests can experience color in a fun, interactive environment.

Disney Imagineer, Jason Grant, who worked on the Colortopia Exhibit says, “Like a book and how you read chapter by chapter and the story builds, we are building that foundation. First you start out in the theater, then you do the interactive exhibits and then you use all that knowledge to then bring the murals to life at the end and paint them.”

First, guest are welcomed into “The Power of Color” pod, a projected theater-in-the-round where guests stand and learn about the psychology of color and its impact on their lives. Within the space, guests are surrounded by a visual representation of feelings associated with different colors. Did you know that green is calming due to people’s association of the color with nature? That’s just one of the associations learned during this fun light show. I tried to capture it in a video, but my phone’s camera didn’t do the brilliant colors justice. Bonus, Modern Family’s Ty Burrell’s voice narrates this area.Inside Colortopia at Epcot Photo Credit: Tara Settembre/VIPTravelingMom

Once you exit the round room, you can then explore “The Color Lab.” In this open space area, there are hands-on color stations like the “Color Mix ’n’ Match,” an interactive game that features red, green and blue lights and provides an opportunity to mix and create new colors. The screen suggests a color and you slide the dials in order to match the color. This is surprisingly harder than it sounds, I kept receiving a score of 0! A second interactive station, “Spinning Spectrums,” teaches guests about the persistence of vision through spinning discs. For example, how two colors or patterns when spun super-fast can reveal a different color. It’s fun for little ones to hit the buttons and see the discs spin too. Note: be on the lookout for the hidden Mickey’s found here!The Color Lab inside Colortopia at Epcot. Photo Credit: Tara Settembre/VIPTravelingMom

My favorite area is next. “Color Our World” is another room to the left. In the preshow area, instead of a typical shadow, your body will cast colorful rainbow shadows. This really brought out the child in me as I did hand puppets, etc. I can’t wait to take my twin toddlers into this room and see how they react. After the shadow fun, guests then receive a magic paint brush and enter the studio, where you can did your magic pain brush into different colored paint buckets and “paint” on an interactive mural. It reminded me of an app my kids use on my iPad, but more interactive. Here, when you paint a tree, not only does it change to the color that you selected, but it also becomes more animated. Pre-schoolers will love this, but so will older kids and parents too. After you exit, you can share and email your creation to yourself or friends and family for a fun digital souvenir from your trip.

In addition to the exhibit, guests can download the free Colortopia mobile app has a number of features that allow people to interact further with the exhibit. Also, another neat feature is that the Glidden team has matched the color palettes from the countries in the World Showcase. So, if Italy is your favorite pavilion or if you like a certain color in the architecture in Norway, you can find the corresponding paint color for your home, thus taking Epcot back home with you in a subtle way.

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Fast Pass+ isn’t needed here and a group of about 50 of us moved through the area easily without feeling crowded or having to wait, since the three different areas helps keep things moving and spaces out visitors.

About Tara Settembre

From celebrity hot spots, secret entrances, to off-the-beaten path restaurants, Tara likes to be "in the know" when she travels. A mom of twin toddler boys and wife to a TravelingDad, Tara often travels with her family utilizing advice and insider tips for a true VIP experience when vacationing. You can also follow Tara’s adventures via Twitter at @TaraMetBlog and on her blog.